2010 Holiday Gift Guide for Mutual Fund/ETF Digital Marketers

Some of the best things in life online are free. We used the same line when introducing our 2009 Holiday Gift Guide for Asset Manager Digital Marketers but it’s even truer in 2010. To all you podcast, application, Webinar, whitepaper, ebook producers etc. who have shared your work this year, our sincere thanks and admiration.

After the thanks-giving comes the gift-giving, of course. So, without further ado, here’s our list of 10-ish recommended gifts for mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketers in 2010. Feel free to distribute to all interested parties.

1. Pantone Espresso Mug Set

Mugs—really? Yes, but not just any mugs. With these espresso cups of Pantone color chips representing four tones of coffee, we pay homage to the four-color production world that many digital marketers hail from and are glad to be freed of. From our biased point of view, digital requires more energy—hence, the caffeinated theme.

2. iPad Toccata Keyboard And Case

Some digital marketers would be thrilled with an iPad and nine apps (which was a direction we considered for this list). But in the interest of mixing it up, we’ll simply go with this spiffy Toccata keyboard and case for the iPad. Oh, and there’s room in the case to wedge an iTunes gift card to plump up the marketer's apps budget.

3. Digital Marketing (Or Not) Events: BlogWorld, ad:tech, South by Southwest, TED, MENG, Etc.

The digital marketer’s job requires focus and at the same time blue-sky thinking. The best holiday gift may involve a means to take to the skies to attend one of the awesome digital marketing and social media conferences planned for 2011.

Also helpful: The steady dosages of outside thinking delivered via the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) Webinars, blog posts and professional networking. From now until December 31, new members qualify for $100 off the MENG application fee. See the benefits here and initiate the membership process here.

4. I Live In The Future

“The future is here—it’s just unevenly distributed.” That quote is cited by Nick Bilton, lead writer and technology reporter for the New York Times Bits blog, in his September 2010 book “I Live In The Future And Here’s How.”

Bilton used it to describe his own early technology-adopting self but it’s true, too, of the digital marketers at asset management firms. Digital marketers represent the future to many of their colleagues. This book provides perspective, context and some added forward thinking (including a QR code that unlocks additional online content).

5. A 1-year Netflix Subscription

Maybe Oprah wants to throw her money away on a five-year subscription to Netflix (see related article), but digital marketers know better. Loved ones, your digital marketer would want you investing in digital media subscriptions one year at a time. Who knows what Facebook will be up to by 2016?

6. Garrett's Popcorn

With digital marketers spending most of their day sitting and in front of a computer, a logical if obvious gift guide item might be the kinect for the Xbox. But we're thinking out of the Xbox here with this recommendation of a healthy size tin of Garrett's popcorn from our hometown. Order the cheese and caramel mix, which creates such a finger mess that the marketers will be forced to shove themselves away from their workspace.

6A. Verilux CleanWave Sanitizing Wand

On a related subject, in the course of demonstrating or other instructing, digital marketers tend to yield their mouse and keyboard to lots of grubby hands. Keep the germ risk under control with this Verilux CleanWave VH01WW4 UV-C Sanitizing Wand.

7. Corporate Faith In Social Media

The above is a poignant tweet coming from one of the many correspondents tweeting from what looked to be an excellent Business Development Institute (BDI) program Friday on Financial Services Social Communications. (See our AdvisorTweets blog post about what Morgan Stanley Smith Barney had to say about social media. You can listen to presentations from the entire event via the archived audio file, as I did.)

There’s no question that corporate faith in social media would be the most coveted gift to give mutual fund and ETF digital marketers this year. As much as we’d like to provide an inside tip here, the “struggle” isn’t one for which there is a shortcut.

A firm’s faith in the digital marketer’s command of the possibilities and thoughtful consideration (why, what, where, when, how and who) should eventually lead to faith in what the marketer is advocating.

8. A Japanese Foursquare T-shirt

Communications based on location? Nope, not a language most asset managers speak yet. But even without mutual fund or ETF adoption, Foursquare had a big 2010. This shirt gives props to the trend—without needing to sport the logo that looks pretty uninspired in English.

9. The Speak-er

Well…it is all about the conversation nowadays. These Speak-ers (sold in a set of two) would be perfect for group listening to podcasts. What’s that, you say? Some marketers might want to listen to music?

10. Peace At Work

Through no fault of the digital marketer and owing completely to the cross-functional nature of the work, it can be a battlefield for digital marketers representing emerging best practices over parochial interests.

This oversize fixture says what the digital marketer yearns to: Give peace a chance.

What's on your list this year? Let us know below!